Advice Please

[kpnuts2006]

A parent has enquired about looking after her two children aged 10 and 8 taking them to school in the morning and picking them up from school totalling up to 14.5 hours a week. Im new to this but currently have a 9 month old baby 16 hours a week which i charge £3.50 a hour. Would it sound reasonable to charge £6 an hour for the two children. I have said this to the parent but they are only paying £65 a week where they are now and has asked if i could reduce the price. have any of you come across this and what would you do in this situation? Advice please. Thanks

if it was me i def would not reduce the money unless you are absolutly desperate for the work
i would not have even done a reduction for the 2 of them in first place,i only do sibling reduction for full timers.
imo i think its downright rude of them to ask you to further reduce for them when youve given them a perfectly decent reduction anyway!

I too do not offer a sibling reduction & would charge full hourly rate for both children. I certainly would not agree to reduce to £65, why should you? presumably you are trying to earn a living?! yes I know I sound harsh but you are not a charity

Have you been asked to provide breakfast in the morning?
Have you been asked to provide Dinner or afternoon snacks & are they included in your hourly rate?

Don't be taken advantage of, parents may be able to claim a proportion in tax credits anyway

as your new to this dont be taken in by parents most get help with childcare from tax credits
i charge £3 per hour for before/after school
i have 2 children i have after school for 20 mins their parents pay me £6 per night to do this as they cant do it themselves
what i am saying is we provide a sevice and if the parents need us they will use us
if your parents whats childcare for £65 then she will have to look elsewhere.
mose the prob she will use you for your full pay if she is desparate.

thank you for your responses, yes she has asked me to provide meals and transporation within that price. I mean the school is a mile away and she wants me to take them 4 mornings and pick them up 3 evenings. I mean she saw my advertisement and my website and it states that i do actually charge £3.50 for part timers and i think that i was being reasonable reducing the rate too. Really dont know what to do, need to let her know tomorrow

I also don't do a reduction for siblings. As smeeinit says, I certainly wouldn't do any more of a reduction unless you really are desperate for the work (and I mean desperate).

Do you know how your hourly rate compares to other minders in your area? Are they currently paying £65 to another childminder in your area - if so, why are they looking for a new minder? (£65/week for 14.5 hours care is only £2.25 per hour!!!)

Also she would like me to have them in the school holidays which will be for 11 hours a day. Any suggestions on the prices that you can charge per day. I mean to charge an hourly rate seems a bit much as this would then be £66 a day.

Her current childminder is quitting and has just give notice. I think that she is pretty desperate because the other childminders near me dont pick up from her children's school and I dont have any other commitment to schools. So to be honest she is probably more desperate than i am to mind her children

i charge £22 per day in hols for 9 hrs max
over 9 hrs occurs a £3 per hour top up

i also go out lots with the children in the hols and parents provide spending money

what i do is plan my days out and have 2 expensive days out (farm, zoo) and 3 non expensive days out (museum, park)
i then print a list of the planned says out with a colum for things needed (swimming kit, bucket and spades) and a colum with how much they need (£5 towards entrance to zoo, £1 for ice cream)

i give this to parents 3 wks b4 hols so the parents can budget for it

i charge normal hourly rate during hols,i care for siblings and it does work our at £70 per day but believe me i earn it!
the way i look at at is that i do no less work for a 2nd child so i should get no less pay,and in the hols i do alot more with the after schoolers than term time as we have all day together so i dont reduce the hourly rate!
and you must remember as tan and dmo said,most parents get help thro tax credits with their childcare costs.